Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Worthless Humans ❯ Deadly Games ( Chapter 32 )

“The demons had to retreat for the time being, sir,” Botan explained as she stood before the ruler of Spirit World in her pink kimono. “The fox demon thief sent his members to attack them and they couldn't fight them all.”

 

Koenma sat behind his desk with his fingers intertwined with one another as he listed to Botan. Releasing a sigh through his nostrils, he looked up at the worried messenger girl with a simple nod. “I see.”

 

“Your father has already decided to send down his reinforcements,” Botan continued with a slight shrug. “I am afraid it will be up to them this time.”

 

“If that is what it takes, so be it,” Koenma finally answered as he looked down at his desk as if to think upon the matter. “I just want this problem resolved. Human World and Makai don't mix and never should, especially not like this.”

 

Botan could only wrinkle her brow in worry as she heard Koenma's words. Folding her hands there before her, she looked down at her sandaled feet. “But, Koenma, it appears like it won't ever stop. Already demons are sneaking to Human World to steal humans as slaves.”

 

The young ruler of Spirit World cupped his forehead in his hand as he eyed the paper in front of him. “I can only hope that when we shut down Yoko Kurama's slave operation, it will send a warning to the others.” Turning around in his chair, Koenma eyed the windows, which showed him part of Spirit World, with equal worry in the situation. I can only hope my father was right to send them out for this job. They are quite powerful.

 

 

 

 

Nari was frantic as she tried to hurry down the hallway she had found herself within. The hallway was awfully narrow and slick seeing as it was created entirely of marble unlike the others she had previously seen. Her hands pressed upon the walls, she tried to drag herself down the wavering hall to find the end of it while praying that a door would be at the end of it. Taking a corner and then heading down another, Nari made it to a door that made her inhale in relief as she worked eagerly at the handle.

 

“Come on, come on, and open!” Nari begged as she continued to tug on the doorknob. As Nari was eagerly trying to open the door, she looked over her shoulder once she heard something creeping down the marble halls. It sounded like plants growing and creeping about the corridor and it frightened her knowing who was after her.

 

When shifting her attention from the stubborn door to over her shoulder, she couldn't help but bite her lower lip to muffle her scream when vines started crawling about the walls and floors of the hallway she was within. Not wanting to be grabbed by the angered demon, Nari finally put everything she had into the door and managed to knock it open. With the door now unlocked, Nari was quick to shut it behind her as she looked about the awfully dark room she was now within.

 

She scurried into the room regardless as her eyes attempted to adjust to the darkness. Once they did so, Nari realized that she was in a library of some kind. The shelves were lined with many books of different kinds. Turning the corner that the bookshelves made, she squatted down in the back where a demon's skull was sitting on a desk and used as a candle holder. Seeing the eerie skull made her flesh crawl as she waited in the darkness in hopes of the fox demon not finding her.

 

The door she had previously shut that led into the room flew open as the clever fox demon stood there angrily. His golden eyes pierced through the darkness as his plants continued to grow and start to litter the new area gradually with the demon's influences guiding them. Taking in the scents about him, Yoko Kurama grinned as he shifted his ears forward down the path that was set in front of him. “I can smell your wretched human flesh. You cannot hide from a demon's nose, human, so you might as well give it up right now.”

 

Nari made not a sound as she prayed there under the desk that she snuck under that everything he was saying was just a bluff. Her knees brought up to her body, she kept a close eye on the darkness to finally see it being cut with the appearance of the white clothed fox demon. She could see his white shoes he always wore as well as the lower white part of his pants from where she was hiding. The closer he came, the more fearful she grew.

 

Yoko Kurama continued his walk down the middle of the towering bookshelves on his left and right. He could smell the fear that Nari was letting out and it got stronger the closer he got to the desk resting at the end of the shelves. Stopping right in front of the desk, he glared at the top of it before grabbing onto the side to flip it over and send it crashing into the opposite bookshelf.

 

The desk obliterated on impact against the other ledge leaving Nari to get whacked with a bit of the debris as well as the falling books. Looking up at the towering demon, she squeezed over to the side as quickly as she could to run past him. The demon didn't bother to stop her as Nari's biggest problem was waiting around the corner as she turned it to find the large vines covering the area. Being in a state of fear, she thought nothing of them until her flesh was torn once the thorns dug into her body as she attempted to run across the vines before her.

 

Screaming in pain at the feel of the thorny vines gripping onto her, Nari fell within the middle of where they had gathered. The vines wrapped about her body tightly as Nari struggled against the greenery that had a hold of her. She was eager to escape as she saw the demon coming back around the corner to watch as Nari withered in pain there amongst the many vines that had attached to the area and lessened her ways of escape. “Let me go!” Nari begged as she tried to pull out of the tightening plants.

 

Yoko Kurama stood there from a safe distance as he watched what the woman was enduring. Crossing his arms over his broad chest, he merely scoffed at her. “Humph, this is what you get for destroying what I worked so hard for. I should have let Yomi kill you the times he attempted.”

 

Nari said not a word as she continued to try and fight her way free until the pain became too much. The constant pricking and digging into her skin made her pass out there in the library. Her entire body went numb thanks to the agonizing pain she was enduring and it almost felt healing to her as she closed her eyes and passed out there upon the cold, hard floor.

 

The silver haired fox demon called back the vine he had unleashed within the mansion to reveal Nari there, bleeding and cut upon the floor. Bending down to grab onto her chain, Yoko Kurama headed off back down the hallway from which they came from. He cared not what was wrong with Nari as he dragged her body against the marble flooring, leaving a small blood trail along the way.

 

 

 

 

Nari remained out cold throughout the day until she finally found the energy to rouse her sleeping body from the slumber it went into. Fluttering her eyes open, she tried to get them to focus to the dreary brown colored ceiling that rested above her as well as a chain that slightly swung from side to side that was hanging from the ceiling. The room smelt of blood and death and rattled the young woman as she felt something slimy underneath her body. As Nari tried to get up from where she was lying, she found herself unable to and it started to frighten her as she realized she had been chained down to the table that was resting beneath her.

 

“What's going on?” Nari demanded to know as she continued to try and get free from the shackles that held her hands up near her head.

 

“Comfortable?” Yoko Kurama asked as he finally made himself known in the dreary room as he stepped close to the side of the table. “I am glad to know you are not dead already. What fun would that be for me?”

 

Nari's breath quickened as she continued to try and get free from her chains that bind her with fear swelling within her eyes. “What is this place?”

 

The demon turned his back on Nari as he walked over to another table that held a few vials and beakers filled with different kinds of fluids and of different colors. “You never would think of those water demons as violent type demons, would you? Well, that is why this room is made to hide such a side from the world of Makai,” Yoko Kurama explained as he continued to knock the glasses together as he worked with what he was given. “The water demons are very strict demons. If you disobeyed their rules you would be dragged into this room first.”

 

Nari's eyes quickly examined the area as she saw how it was a cobble stone walled room with wooden floors that looked awfully uncomfortable to walk upon.

 

As she did so, Yoko Kurama made his way back over towards the fearful Nari. “One of the rules was to kill anyone under the same roof. If one of the demons were found guilty of such a crime, they would be tortured until the torturer felt need to rest their soul.” At the end of his explanation, the demon showed a syringe to Nari that was full of some sort of blue substance.

 

Nari panicked as she hated needles of any kind. Her toes curling while her hands turned into fists, Nari tried her hardest still to get free regardless of how weak she was compared to the strong shackles. “What—what is that?” She demanded to know as she watched the demon closely.

 

“This is a little something that the water demons were clever enough to create,” Yoko Kurama explained as he showed off the needle before inching closer to Nari's wiggling body. “This medicine is used to torture the inside of your body slowly—like a thousand knives cutting into your heart, lungs, stomach, throat, and whatever else is within your fragile form. It'll make you feel like something is inside and trying to eat its way out of you.” Grabbing onto Nari's arm tightly to keep her still, Yoko Kurama brought the needle to her arm to inject it into her with little remorse. “Seeing as this would kill a normal human in fewer than three minutes, I will let you endure it until I decide to call it off seeing as you have the strength of an S class.”

 

It didn't take long for the medicine to start taking over Nari's body like a serpent creeping through her veins. Tightening her fists once more, she screamed in horrible agony at the feel of the knife like pain stabbing at every inch of her body. Her nails dug into her palm so harshly that they pierced her skin and caused blood to drip down her wrist. Nari's injured foot hurt worse than before the more she tried to move and thrash about no thanks to what she was enduring.

 

“I can imagine you wish you were dead now,” Yoko Kurama remarked coldly as he watched her without a flinch. “If I don't release it, this will continue to eat away at your body until the twenty-four hours are up when the drug will finally stop.” Remaining there at the foot of the table that held the tormented Nari, the plants he controlled started to sprout out and creep across the floor and walls once more making it look like a tropical jungle the more the plants grew about her. “As much as I would enjoy staying here to watch you suffer for what you have done, I have other things to attend to.” Yoko Kurama headed for the door to the room without a care. “But do not worry—I will leave my plants here to keep you company.”

 

The door closed behind Yoko Kurama, leaving Nari alone within the room. Her pain was so intense that the words the demon spared to her were slightly hazy. She continued to writher about upon the table she was upon only to feel the vines resurface from the sides of her body to creep upon her stomach and hold onto her tightly so the thorns could embed within her weak skin once more.

 

“Stop!” Nari screamed as she bit her lower lip till it bled. “Stop it!”

 

The plants did not listen to her pleas as the vines merely tightened about her harsher than before. The tropical forest of horrors got worse when three large Venus Flytraps sprouted from the floor. The mouths of the giant plants opened to show their large teeth and toxic saliva as they inched closer to the frightened Nari. They could sense her fear and feel her moving about as they came towards her to drip their burning dribble on parts of Nari's already mutilated body.

 

The saliva of the carnivorous plants burned when it marred with her skin, making her pain mount to the point of just wishing she could kill herself at that very moment to stop the torment she was enduring. Her eyes began to droop once more from the mounting torment her body was forced to put up with. She was just waiting and praying until her heart would stop beating as Nari fought to try and beat the displeasing sensation sent through her entire form only to scream at the top of her lungs in failure. Her scream rebound off of the walls down the halls and rooms until going quiet once more.

 

 

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The double doors to the mansion opened as Yoko Kurama entered the silent building later on the next day. It was different to come home to nothing and seemed to make his time within the mansion tedious to him. “I can only wonder how she managed such a thing without help,” he wondered aloud as he headed down to the area he left Nari within slowly seeing as he was in no hurry to help her. “She is just a simple human.”

 

As he was heading down the stairs that were located behind the main staircase up front, Yoko Kurama's eyes came upon one of his old members lying there dead on the cold, hard concrete twisting staircase. The bugs had already determined that it was a corpse from what the fox demon could see as he made his way further down the steps stained in old blood. “I will have to remember to clean this place out before abandoning it.”

 

Getting to the lower level of the mansion, Yoko Kurama headed down the eerie, damp hall to get to the last door on the left. Opening the door, he walked on inside to find the area just as he left it without the horrible screaming of the in pain Nari. He headed through the tropical surrounding that had sprouted out about the torture room so as to make his way to the table where Nari was resting, passed out from exhaustion. His hands resting upon the sides of the table, he watched as his slave's chest moved to indicate she was still alive. Grabbing onto the pail of dirty water that was resting there beside the table Nari was upon Yoko Kurama poured it over the unsuspecting slave's face to rouse her.

 

Feeling the water caress her face prompted Nari to wake quickly as she shook the tainted liquid from her features quickly. She coughed as she spit the water that leaked into her mouth earlier. “What—what do you want…?” She wearily asked before closing her eyes once more.

 

Yoko Kurama tossed the pail once it was used. A grin present upon his face, he narrowed his eyes at Nari's words. “Tell me, how did you find The Devil's Tongue and use it against me?”

 

Nari avoided the demon's gaze as she sighed wearily in attempts to get her breath back. “I refuse to tell you…,” she boldly answered.

 

“You continue to flirt with death,” Yoko Kurama said as he went back to the other table in the room that held the drug he used previously. “You know I will have no problem with killing you and your little runt if you continue to be disobedient,” he warned while measuring the liquid in the syringe before heading back over to Nari who refused to wiggle this time. “You have taken my team from me so I have no problem with killing who is left after I am through with you.”

 

“You killed us all years ago,” Nari grumbled as she turned her head away from the glaring demon. “What you do to either of us now matters little…”

 

“So you speak for everyone?” Yoko Kurama wondered as he grabbed onto Nari's chin to force her to look at him.

 

“You have asked your fellow demons to beat, mock, and rape us for years,” Nari pointed out with a scoff. “We either wish to die or escape at this point. Whatever comes first to us, we will take it with open arms.”

 

Yoko Kurama grabbed onto Nari's arm to inject it once more before releasing it with a growling scoff. “That is why you are special to me and will remain down here until I grow weary of you. How you poisoned my crew matters little so long as I don't make the same mistake again of not keeping you tied up. I was much too lenient towards you no thanks to Kuronue and all I had to do what with my thievery and all.”

 

Nari bit at her lower lip once more as she cringed and cried out in dismay at the pain that gradually started to build painfully inside of her body.

 

“Now all of that is no longer around and there is nothing to hold me back from treating you as I wish,” the fox demon further explained as he walked slowly towards the end of the table. His finger tips glided upon the surface of the old slab as he stood in between her shackled feet. Digging into his pant's pocket, he pulled out a key to show to Nari for a moment before using it to release the shackles on her ankles. Crawling on top of the table once the restraints were released, Yoko Kurama inched close to Nari's face, which was contorted in pain. “Get used to this room. You will be seeing it for awhile.”

 

Nari merely clamped her eyes shut so as not to look at the demon as she lied there withering in pain. She could hear him removing his attire while she did so. Breath quickening, she managed to look at the towering demon and see his eyes just within inches of her own. His breath caressed her skin as she gazed daringly up at the silver haired demon. The feel of it made her look away quickly while she tried to battle with the piercing feeling that was attacking every inch of her weak form.

 

Yoko Kurama grabbed onto her chin to make Nari look back at him while his demonic length entered inside of her already abused womanhood. His nails pinching Nari's skin, he folded his ears back as he let his warm breath breathe down upon her. “Death may come to the others quickly, but for you, I will drag it out as I see fit.”

 

Nari tried not to shed a single tear though it was difficult at having to hear she would be tormented for as long as the demon wished to. Feeling the swollen member of the demon enter inside of her torn vaginal walls, she arched her back off of the table to manage a scream of displeasure. “Oh, God, please stop!” Nari begged for once as the tenderness that rushed through her was increasing every passing minute.

 

Yoko Kurama refused as he grabbed onto her hands to keep them still within the shackles that kept them there loosely near her head. He rocked into her body at such a ruthless speed and pressure that it made her walls start to bleed and tear further than they already had. It matter little to the fox demon as he continued to push into her harshly with his knees bent near her hips upon the table below them both.

 

The helpless Nari tried her best to lessen the pain she was being dealt in attempts to match his rhythm. Her body even lubricated to try and help the demon's well endowed member along though it did little good. Her blood marred with Yoko Kurama's manhood as well as the dampness her body created throughout the ruthless penetration.

 

Eventually the heartless demon reached his climax but said and did nothing but release deeply inside of the hurting woman. The dark seed all inside of the human underneath him, he pulled off of her without a word to her as he picked up his attire that he dropped there upon the floral covered floor he created himself with his own influence towards plants.

 

Once again Nari's body went numb and she almost couldn't feel any pain at all for that moment seeing as she couldn't feel her own body. She felt like she was weighed down there upon the table. Her eyes were almost void of emotion as her form would occasionally jolt from the injection she was given earlier. Looking off blankly to the side, a tear finally slipped from her wide opened eye. Please, just let me die….

 

The silver haired fox headed for the door of the room once more to leave Nari there to suffer as he wished her to. His hand touching the doorknob, he looked over his shoulder at her with a muffled scoff. “Wait here until I get back. I am going to go do a little house cleaning.”

 

The slamming of the door was vaguely heard ringing in Nari's ear from where she was resting. Her fingers flinching and jolting from time to time, she tried to get the feeling back in her body as she remained tied down though it became impossible. It was as though her body had surrendered before Nari had said so and it felt like it was almost over for her now.

 

Yoko Kurama headed back up the stairs and walked past the dead demon body there on the corner of the steps. Once he made it to the top and out into the main room, he stood in the middle to listen to the sounds about him for a moment. He could hear whispering and the sound of people running about marble and wooden flooring. Opening his eyes once he gathered the sounds he was looking for, Yoko Kurama headed up the red carpeted steps to get to the second level. “I guess I might as well get this over with,” he grumbled as he turned to go up the right level stairs to get on the right side of the top level.

 

Down the other side of the left top level, a door was cracked open slightly so that a few slaves nearby could watch the one remaining demon wander about slowly. It was a young teen male by the age of fourteen or so with curly red hair that almost covered his green eyes and freckles littered his face. He came from Texas in the United States while being accompanied by an elder male in his early twenties who had shaggy blond hair and brown eyes. The elder man came from Norway.

 

“What is he doing?” The elder blond asked as he eyed the demon from afar quietly.

 

“I don't know,” the younger redhead stuttered nervously as he peeked outside. “All I know is we better try and get the hell out of here! Those screams in the basement are freaking me out. I don't want to know what he is doing down there.”

 

“Quiet,” the Norwegian demanded angrily as he pushed the boy out of his way so he could see better. The two of them were watching from a gallery of some kind that was situated within the mansion. It was filled with images that were neglected since the day the water demons were destroyed and so a bit of dust littered the area. Continuing to follow the silver haired demon from the door he had cracked open, he watched as the demon disappeared into the farthest room on the right. “It is like he is looking for something. I wonder what.”

 

The boys closed the door quietly behind them as they turned to the other slaves that were there listening. `Sally' was one of the few there as the others within the room mostly came from within the regions of Japan and some parts of the Middle East. The slaves looked to one another nervously. They had all escaped their masters and mistresses once they all fell over dead from the drug they were unknowingly given.

 

“I can bet you one thing, mates,” Sally whispered within the room, “I bet that the one being tortured is that blond girl slave of his!”

 

“She is immortal to my knowledge so what does it matter?” An abused Chinese woman with long, uneven black hair wondered as she brought her knees to her scarred chest. “It is us that we should worry about!”

 

“Hey, shelia, she was the one who poisoned those beasts to begin with!” Sally felt need to remind them. “Be grateful!”

 

“Well, she missed her master,” the blond Norwegian pointed out as he crept back into the room.

 

“That is expected,” the Texan remarked with a scoff. “That guy knows his plants from what I have seen and heard.”

 

Sally looked back at the door that the guys had recently peeked through as she bit her lower right lip to think. “I bet you I know one thing—that nasty bloke is trying to kill the remaining slaves.”

 

Everyone gasped and wondered what Sally was talking about as she said such a thing. It scared everyone as they began to cower next to one another regardless of whether they knew the one closest to them.

 

“That sure does seem like him, don't it?” Sally asked as she shrugged slightly. “His other members are dead and we are all that is left. I bet he doesn't give a rat's ass about us and is willing to pick us off one by one if he can.”

 

“So he wants to play cat and mouse?” The blond haired male wondered aloud. “Alright, we will play his little cat and mouse game then.”

 

“Are you mad!” The young redhead exclaimed in a high whisper causing hushes to hiss across the room. “This is a damn demon we are dealing with here!”

 

“But this mansion has thousands of rooms we can hide in,” the blond man felt need to point out. “Just split up or stick together and hide. This is a game of life and death here and if we all stick together, he'll be able to find us all very easily. Also, keep your fear in check. He can smell that a mile away, I wager.”

 

Not having to be told twice, the slaves quickly broke up and headed to the door to find areas to hide within. Sally was the last one to leave the room they all had gathered within. She embraced her battered body as she looked there at the door that led to the main room with a sigh of sorrow.

 

“Just hold on a bit longer,” she begged silently before quickly dashing off towards the door within the back of the room.

 

Yoko Kurama unleashed his Rose Whip to tear apart the slaves that stood before him. Their bodies collapsing upon the floor in a pool of their own blood, he watched as the crimson liquid dripped through the cracks and flowed towards the opposite wall where it would pool and creep down the hallway. Their bodies were torn apart. The torsos cut in two thanks to the powerful thorns that lashed across their bodies. The demon didn't flinch as he moved over those that were ripped into pieces there upon the wooden floor.

 

The blooded whip dragged upon the floor as Yoko Kurama continued down the hallway before him slowly that emptied out onto a terrace on the right that he knew led to a dead end around the corner. The smell of human flesh rang within his nostrils as he continued on about the balcony that hugged onto the side of the mansion. The sun was going down at the moment as he turned the corner to continue down the iron terrace that rang out a warning every step he took.

 

The slaves that stood quivering at the end of the balcony where plants wavered in the blowing wind watched in tearful fear as the demon finally turned the next corner to make himself known. The girls there at the end quivered and held onto one another while weeping at their demise coming slowly towards them. They begged over and over again at the coming demon to not kill them as their backs pressed against the railing behind them.

 

Yoko Kurama cracked the whip at his side as he inched closer towards the women that were terrified of meeting their death. Once he made it within inches of the two frightened females, he reared back his whip and slashed it across the two human slaves. He watched with no remorse as the two of them were ripped apart with their lifeless bodies falling over the side of the balcony.

 

“That takes care of eight of the many slaves,” Yoko Kurama murmured to himself as he headed back to the hallway that he came from. As he was about to make his way towards it, he stared out at the scenery nearby with a bit of interest. The large word of Makai was resting before him and it almost made him eager to just set out and never return. But he knew that was impossible at that moment as he needed to be rid of the humans he had acquired over the years he was with his team.

 

As he continued to eye the view that the balcony granted him, one of the male slaves quickly hurried past the open door that led within the hallway Yoko Kurama was previously within. The sound of the wind being cut by movement caught the twitching ear of the fox demon as he quickly shot his attention on the corridor he had came from not too long ago. His golden eyes watching the area closely, he headed towards the opened door to look within the wooden floored corridor that took a left further down.

 

Walking slowly down it, he kept his eye on what was ahead of him as he listened to a door on the other side of the wall shut quietly though not quiet enough for his demonic hearing not to catch. As he turned the corner to head down the short hallway to turn left once again, he looked at the four doors within the next passageway wondering which one would hide the slave he just heard dashing by. Cracking his whip to intimate the weary humans, he came close to the door on the right to smell nothing but a faint scent of a human once there; meaning one of the slaves was probably there an hour or so ago. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” he beckoned in an eerie tone as he walked over to the opposite door to smell nothing.

 

Coming towards the last door on the left, Yoko Kurama halted with his walking as he smelt something peculiar behind the wooden door. His hand turning the handle slowly, he threw it open to have the door slam into the wall as he did so as he walked within the small room that had a miniature bookcase, two desks with burning scented candles littering the area. Examining the room, he cocked his brow at the many candles that were lit and mixing with the odor he was trying to follow.

 

“Who lit these candles?” He asked aloud softly while continuing to walk about the room. Yoko Kurama knew that nobody would bother with scented candles within his team and it made him curious about the situation.

 

The slaves that had crept within the room were hiding under one of the desks. Felix was one of them as he covered the mouth of a panic stricken female teenager who threatened to scream at the demon's presents. They dared not move from where they were as they watched the demon's tail carefully as well as the steps his feet took.

 

Since the scented candles were messing with his senses, Yoko Kurama could only groan in dismay as he turned his back on the room to head back for the door. Looking at the clock, he noticed the time as he made his whip disappear. “I have to go out and pass the time other than playing this game with them.” Grabbing onto the doorknob to open the door, he looked back at the room with a frown. “Consider yourself lucky, humans. When I return, I will get the rest of you.”

 

Felix and the African American female he had under the desk with him that looked about fifteen gazed at one another as they heard the door shut. “You wait here,” Felix mouthed softly as he crawled cautiously out from under the desk to check and see if the fox demon had truly left the area. Looking left and then right about the small room, Felix saw that nobody was there except him and the young female he was hiding with. “The coast is clear. You can come out now.”

 

The young female crept out from under the desk eventually once she realized it was true. Taking Felix's hand, she got to her bare feet to quiver upon them in fear. “Do you think the candles helped?”

 

“I am not sure,” Felix answered as he shook his head with uncertainty. “I am hoping they did. Right now it is best to wait in here until we know for certain he has left the mansion.”

 

Nari remained in the basement area when the fox demon returned to check on her moments later. Blood had covered the demon's attire as he walked slowly over towards the weakened Nari whose heart was slowing in beat no thanks to the torrential pain. Leaning in to get a better look at Nari, he saw her eyes were still void of any feeling almost making her look as though she were dead. Yoko Kurama grabbed onto her chin to force her to look at him so he could examine her face. The way she stared at him made it seem as though she were looking right through him.

 

“Awe,” Yoko Kurama began in fake sympathy, “I can only wonder how much longer you can truly put up with this all. Your human heart appears to be beating slower than before.” His fingers ran through Nari's stringy blond hair as he eyed her with morbid curiosity on how much longer she could truly hold out. Inching closer to her face he kissed her parted lips with an eerie smirk. “When I return, maybe I will be forgiving.”

 

Nari made not a sound as her fingers flinched slightly into a curl. She could hardly make out his words and see what was around her. Everything was hazy and faded in and out of darkness.

 

“I'll see you when I return,” Yoko Kurama grunted as he headed back for the door. “If you try anything smart, I will keep you down here.”

 

The door slammed once more but it was the last time Nari ever heard the door open or close for some time. The pain that her body had to endure eventually evaporated and she was left there in a normal room. The plants that had previously occupied it with her disappeared overtime though she was not sure when. She would continue to wake up and fall back into deep sleeps and it was hard to keep track of time. Her eyes fluttering closed one last moment during whatever hour it was, she turned her head off to the side and went limp.

 

 

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“Here is another one,” a voice, muffled and slightly distant called out in the darkness of Nari's mind.

 

“Is she even alive?” Another asked as the two could be heard hurrying across the wooden floorboards. “I remember this one. She was the girl we were asked to find.”

 

“I am not sure if she is. Great sky above, what the hell happened down here?”

 

Nari's body remained motionless on the table until the cold fingers of the demon touched her neck to feel of her pulse. The chill of his hand sent a rush through her body and her eyes quickly shot open as she took in a deep breath of surprise at the feel. The black images that towered over her in the damp room started to come into focus and she could only see the piercing blue eyes of two demons loaming over her in interest. Panicking at the thought of more demons being nearby, Nari screamed in fright. “Get out of here! Leave us alone!”

 

“Will you calm down?” the narrowed eyed demon asked as his aquatic bangs could be seen from the black clothing he kept around his face. “We are here to help you. I was the one who was looking for you last time.”

 

The other demon that was the ice creature worked away at the shackles that bound Nari's wrists to finally get them off. “Come on,” the one with red hair and large blue eyes demanded as he got the last manacle off of her. “Koenma is waiting outside for you.”

 

As Nari sat upright slowly on the table with the demons' help, she looked between the two confused and worried. “What—what about Yoko Kurama…? I cannot go! He is going to kill me!”

 

“Human, I don't think he will be doing much of anything anymore,” the ice demon responded as he helped her to her feet. “A squad that Koenma's father has took care of him from what we were told.”

 

“You mean—he's dead?” Nari asked in disbelief before hissing in pain at her foot hitting the floor that was injured. Without most of her energy, she couldn't stand very well and nearly hit the ground if it weren't for the two demons holding onto her injured wrists.

 

“Dead as a doornail,” the redhead answered as he tried to keep her up on her feet. “Whoa there, I think he really did a number on you.”

 

Nari moaned in displeasure as she staggered to stay on her one foot she was allowed to stand upon. “Damn, this really hurts…! And who the hell are you guys?”

 

“The shinobis of Spirit World,” the ice demon answered as he squatted down to look at her foot she was holding up. “Koenma hired us to find you and get the humans down here back to Human World. Some will have to be pulled up in Spirit World, of course and you may be one of them concerning the laws stacked against you.” Grabbing onto her bruised ankle gently, he felt of the area for a moment before releasing it. “I think she might have fractured it. I am sure Koenma will fix that.”

 

Remembering the rules against her, Nari couldn't help but recall her son Okuro that she hadn't seen in a few days. “I will—be right back!” She insisted as she hurried almost drunkenly for the door regardless of how much strength it took. “I have to go get something!”

 

“Hey, wait!” The demons insisted in unison only to watch her flea up the stairs best she could.

 

Nari managed to make her way to the bedroom that used to belong to her master to find her son there on the floor fast asleep. At the time she was scared he was either dead thanks to Yoko Kurama finding him or due to starvation. Running over to the malnourished mix-breed, Nari picked him up gently to shake her son awake eagerly. “Okuro, Okuro, wake up!”

 

Okuro's eyes remained closed until the sound of his mother's voice finally rang into his ears. The smoky black ears of the fox demon moved towards Nari's tone before he blinked his eyes open to look at his mother with a weary wag of his tail. “Where were you, mommy?”

 

Looking about the room quickly, Nari grabbed onto the carpet lying there upon the floor. “Quiet, Okuro,” Nari begged softly as she wrapped up her son to hide his demonic features. “I don't want you to say a word when we go outside…I want us to go home.”

 

Lowering his ears to allow the rug to drape over his head a bit, he cocked his head at his mother. “We go home?” He asked.

 

“Yes, we will go home now,” Nari praised softly as she held her son tightly. “At least I hope…”

 

The door to the room opened as the two demons that had rescued her previously stood there to grab onto her upper arms to get her to stand once more. Nari flinched from the harsh handling as she felt tenderness all over. Cupping the back of her son's head, she kept him close to her body to keep him hidden from those nearby.

 

“Come on already,” the redhead urged as he headed for the door with Nari. “We don't have time for this.”

 

The slaves that were rescued from the mansion made their way outside with the other demons who were working in the shinobi. Koenma and Botan watched each being escorted out and helped back thanks to those who worked under the Spirit World leader. Nari kept her son close to her body as she headed towards the double doors where the rest of the rescued slaves where. Within the crowd of those nearby, she spied Candy not too far away.

“Candy—?” Nari wondered as she looked over at the young woman.

 

Hearing her name for once, Candy looked over her shoulder at Nari with shock upon her face as she hurried over towards her regardless of the demons that had her. “I cannot believe you made it out alive!”

 

“Neither can I,” she managed with a brief, weary laugh. “How is everyone…?”

 

Candy looked about the mansion with a sorrowful frown. “I am not sure but I do know some got killed by Yoko Kurama. I also heard that that `Sara' woman jumped to her death. That girl up ahead with the blue hair took her to Spirit World shortly after.”

 

Hearing such a thing made Nari's heart sink as she closed her eyes in remembering how horrified Sara was of living. “That comes as no surprise…”

 

“Let's quickly move, people,” Botan called to those in the back who were still frightened and scared to move outside of the mansion. “We have to get you all out of here before more trouble shows up.”

 

“There she is,” Koenma replied softly in his teen form as he eyeballed Nari coming forward. The young woman brought before him, he left his arms across his chest as he looked down at the frightened Nari. “So, you must be Nari M. Kudo. I am relieved to see you alive.”

 

“How do you know who I am?” Nari asked as she kept her son in her embrace protectively.

 

“We will discuss that later,” Koenma promised as he eyed the child she was carrying. “Is that your child?”

 

Her heart beating a bit quickly, Nari wondered what to say to the man who pretty much knew all at this point as she nodded to him hesitantly. “Yes—he is, but—I had him with another slave when I was down here. I promise you that,” Nari lied as she made sure Okuro's demonic features were hidden with the rug she wrapped him in.

 

Koenma stood silent for a moment as he eyed the two closely. Waving for one of the messenger girls over his shoulder, he pointed to Nari and her child she held. “I want you to take her up to Spirit World and take care of the two.” Looking back at Nari who was confused at the orders given, he raised one hand to stop her from panicking. “Don't worry, this will just be temporary. We have to escort all of the slaves up there to get things sorted out.”

 

Botan and Koenma watched as Nari was taken from the two demon's custody while saying her constant `thank yous' as the other slaves had done before her. Botan watched as Nari was escorted out of the scene with confusion as she looked back at her leader wondering why he did what he did. “Lord Koenma, you know that child she carries is a half demon. Why did you let her go like that?”

 

Koenma closed his eyes to think with a sigh before looking to Botan with a shake of his russet hair. “I bet that boy is the only thing that truly kept her alive down here. If we were to take that away, we might as well just take her life.”

 

The mansion was quiet that night though filled with decay and death of humans and demons alike. The crickets kept the only melody there within the darkness of Makai. It was the quietest that Makai had ever been for some time with the demon thieves gone. But the silence would last for some time when a shot rang out to claim the life of the silver fox demon during one of his careless raids.

 

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